Types of beehives and their advantages

A beehive is a dwelling place constructed for bees, usually either dome-shaped or box-shaped. Below are some of the most used beehives in the world:

Log Hive

This hive is made using logs.

Advantages Log Hive

They are inexpensive to make.

They can be produced locally and require little knowledge of carpentry.

They can house large amounts of bees.

They are the best hive if one is looking to get large quantities of wax.

When occupied, these hives are very hard to steal due to many cracks and openings that bees utilize to protect their colony.

Disadvantages Log Hive

Log hives are difficult to work with.

The bees can pull their comb from any direction (lengthwise from one end to the other or perpendicular to the hives body).

The comb is “all” fixed to the top of the hive.

Removal of the comb for inspection is impossible.

All of the harvested comb needs to be handled from the bottom and sides dirtying the honey in the process.

These types of hives are very hard to circulate smoke through.

Due to large gaps and cracks, log hives allow more pests (large and small hive beetles, wax moths) in the hive body.

Any log hive that is jarred while lowering to the working surface will lose its honeycomb. The weight of the heavy comb causes it to break off and pools honey on the bottom of the hive. Lots of honey is lost in this process.

All the comb is often removed during harvesting thus losing the bees that have worked so hard to produce the honey and wax.